HTC One max and Sense 5.5: all the new features review

HTC released its first phablet effort, the One max, and it has plenty of new and even exclusive features to show for itself. Not only is the hardware unique in the phablet universe, but the software has received a nice bump for the better as well in its Sense 5.5 reincarnation. Check out the list of new additions below, we'll likely add more as we've probed HTC on the nitty-gritty details.

The scanner works somewhat differently than Apple's Touch ID unit, as it becomes clear from the promo video you have to slide your finger down to unlock the phone instead of just press it against the sensor area. You can also assign three apps to be launched by the scan, each with a different finger.

Fingerprint Scan

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Unlike the One and One mini, the One max sports storage expansion via a microSD card slot, so thankfully you can add more memory to store those videos that are bound to be carried with you considering the big, beautiful 6" display. That's the largest screen HTC has ever placed on a phone, and it is backed up, thankfully, by the largest battery unit it ever used, too. The juicer might be in a sealed compartment, but it still clocks at the hearty 3300 mAh capacity.

A trio of firsts for the One line and HTC in general

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The new HTC Sense 5.5 that comes with the One max brings some much needed improvements, some of which we already saw leaked, namely the ability to turn the BlinkFeed social aggregator on and off. Not only did HTC listen to its customers, but it also added more functionality to BlinkFeed, making it harder to look for anything else in the Play Store. It's now more social, folding Instagram and Google+ feeds, plus more content providers and topic categories have been added. In addition, you can download up to 120 articles for offline reading later on, when you don't have Internet access, or don't want to weigh on your data plan.

The Video Highlights option now can be any length you want, making a complete movie out of your amateur footage by adding a soundtrack and custom theme of your choosing.

Unlimited Video Highlights

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"Dual capture mode displays the photographer’s reactions with a mirror view picture-in-picture. HTC Scribble function allows you to draw on your pics, and Photo Editor feature lets you create GIFs," says HTC about the UltraPixel camera on the One max, leveraging both the huge display that is great for doodling, and the camera.

New camera tools

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A 3300 mAh battery is quite the asset, but it could go even larger if you get the Power Flip case for the One max. The case was announced along with the handset and gives not merely support, but also an extended 1200 mAh flexible battery.

Yes, the battery inside the case is bendable to some degree, and connects to the HTC One max via the three pogo pins on its back. Together with the case, the handset gets a total 4500 mAh battery capacity.

Power Flip case bumps battery capacity to 4500 mAh

The scanner works somewhat differently than Apple's Touch ID unit, as it becomes clear from the promo video you have to slide your finger down to unlock the phone instead of just press it against the sensor area. You can also assign three apps to be launched by the scan, each with a different finger.

HTC One max and Sense 5.5 - all the new features review

1. Fingerprint Scan

The scanner works somewhat differently than Apple's Touch ID unit, as it becomes clear from the promo video you have to slide your finger down to unlock the phone instead of just press it against the sensor area. You can also assign three apps to be launched by the scan, each with a different finger.

2. A trio of firsts for the One line and HTC in general

Unlike the One and One mini, the One max sports storage expansion via a microSD card slot, so thankfully you can add more memory to store those videos that are bound to be carried with you considering the big, beautiful 6" display. That's the largest screen HTC has ever placed on a phone, and it is backed up, thankfully, by the largest battery unit it ever used, too. The juicer might be in a sealed compartment, but it still clocks at the hearty 3300 mAh capacity.

3. Major BlinkFeed update

The new HTC Sense 5.5 that comes with the One max brings some much needed improvements, some of which we already saw leaked, namely the ability to turn the BlinkFeed social aggregator on and off. Not only did HTC listen to its customers, but it also added more functionality to BlinkFeed, making it harder to look for anything else in the Play Store. It's now more social, folding Instagram and Google+ feeds, plus more content providers and topic categories have been added. In addition, you can download up to 120 articles for offline reading later on, when you don't have Internet access, or don't want to weigh on your data plan.

4. Unlimited Video Highlights

The Video Highlights option now can be any length you want, making a complete movie out of your amateur footage by adding a soundtrack and custom theme of your choosing.

5. New camera tools

"Dual capture mode displays the photographer’s reactions with a mirror view picture-in-picture. HTC Scribble function allows you to draw on your pics, and Photo Editor feature lets you create GIFs," says HTC about the UltraPixel camera on the One max, leveraging both the huge display that is great for doodling, and the camera.

6. Power Flip case bumps battery capacity to 4500 mAh

A 3300 mAh battery is quite the asset, but it could go even larger if you get the Power Flip case for the One max. The case was announced along with the handset and gives not merely support, but also an extended 1200 mAh flexible battery.

Yes, the battery inside the case is bendable to some degree, and connects to the HTC One max via the three pogo pins on its back. Together with the case, the handset gets a total 4500 mAh battery capacity.

Top of the line specs, compact form-factor for a phablet, and a suite of phablet-optimized apps that actually set it apart from the competition.

All HTC did was make a huge, bulky version of the One. If I'm going to go big with a phone I need a reason. HTC isn't really giving us any compelling reason to pick this up over the much more compact One. The only upgrade is a fingerprint scanner.

What you really mean is "HTC isn't really giving YOU any compelling reason to pick this up over the much more compact One.
For many of us, productivity and bleeding edge specs aren't as important as specific features i.e. screen size, front facing speakers. This device will be perfect for me and many others....just not for you.

I agree with ZPM101. Although the one and Note 3 are too big for my taste, there is a market for this phone. Will it sell as well as the Note 3? Probably not but just because you don't find it compelling doesn't mean others wont.

The biggest issue I see here is this OBSESSION with top of the line specs. The same reason many trashed the Moto X and Blackberry Z30, yet many reviewers are praising them. It really is not all about the specs or benchmarks, if the phone's software is well done and properly optimized, the phone can perform just as well as a higher specced phone. I think this phone will be priced between regular size flagships ($200) and the Note 3 ($300) so for $250 it may sell just fine or may go for $200 if it's released for the holidays (premium design, large screen, good specs) at a reasonable price, which may have been HTC's plan all along.

Speed, design, durability, removable battery, SD card slot, S-Pen, best screen on the market, 3GB of RAM, one of the best cameras on the market, and 50GB of free Dropbox for two years. So, if that doesn't 'wow' anyone, then idk what to tell you.

Most of what you saying is pure opinion. There is no fact in opinion. I personally don't see the need for any phone bigger then 5 in. The ultra Z has better pen input then the note because you can use anything.

1. Speed: HTC One Max doesn't need snapdragon 800 processor to be snappy performer but "king of lag" Samsung does. ( Snapdragon 800 does help note 3 to keep the lagging to the minimum but you can still find some occasional lagging in note 3 )
2. Design: HTC One Max is definity better looking device than note 3.
3. Durability: Don't make me laugh.
4. Removable battery: Yes, definity a plus point for note 3 but with 3300 mAh and with power flip case ( adds 1200mAh) it's not going to be an issue for most of the people.
5. SD card slot: One Max also has SD card slot.
6. S-Pen: most people stop using that after a few months.
7. Screen: It depends on one's liking. You like AMOLED, some people hate AMOLED, they like IPS LCD.
8. Ram: One Max doesn't need 3 gb ram to be zippy. I do hope you know the main function of the ram.
9. Camera: Yes, Note 3 has one of the best cameras on the market and it's going to be way better than One Max. Hopefully HTC going to fix their camer performence with their next flagship.
10. Online storage: 50 gb additional free google drive online storage being offered exclusively to One Max owner.
And your last comment - One Max is ugly - proves that you either just hate HTC or you have ZERO AESTHETIC sense. One Max is tad bigger than note 3 but people not gonna mind it when they experience the awesome boomsound.
If you happy with Samsung products good for you but you should learn that some people prefer "user experience" over "spec".
One last thing Your "wow" note 3 is a chaep "looking" and "feeling" phone.

This. Until Samsung puts Touchwiz on a diet, they're gonna need top of the line specs to keep it from performing (in day to day operations) like a phone from 2009. I picked up a Maxx, and it flies compared to my S3. The big difference, lack of any detrimental skin & software optimization. I could care less if it gets 30,000 on quadrant, if it stutters, freezes, gets toasty warm during my use, those scores don't mean anything.

My Maxx has never gotten anywhere near hot and I've been putting it through the paces during the 14 day trial period. And it's doing this with an inferior, last gen processor. HTC trimmed down their UI and it shows. If they would've had a phone with a battery like the Maxx I would've had a tough decision on my hands. Unfortunately LG has decided to follow Samsung with the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to their skin. Their skin used to be one of the lightest, now it's right up there with the heaviest.

Motorola has done what I always wanted an OEM to do, leave the extraneous crap at the door and compete on build quality & everyday performance. I used to be pro HTC until their skin was canceling out the performance of the newer hardware. I decided to give Samsung a try, and while the TW iteration on the S3 wasn't as bad as HTC had gotten (Sense 3 & 4 mainly), their skin was dragging down the hardware. Why not simply make these features be apps that can be added or at least not so deeply intertwined into the core OS? Performance would increase and updates would be faster. All these engineers and no one can seem to figure this out.

And before anyone says, I realize the One Max has a similar sized battery to the Maxx, but the width is to much. The Maxx is the limit of how big I wanna go. The main things that would make me consider the One Max over the Maxx, is the boom sound speakers & the microSD card slot. But the size is a deal breaker for me anyway.

Look man i wish i cOuld just address all you MFs at once and tell you. WE KNOW IT WON'T COMPETE WITH THE NOTE BUT SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT THE NOTE. TO BE TRUTHFUL I HATE SAMSUNG PHONES WITH A PASSION. THE SECS ARE GREAT AS WELL AS WHAT PEOPLE CALL BLOATWARE & GIMMICKS. THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT IT. ITS LIKE REVIEWING A GENRE OF MUSIC YOU DESPISE, YOU'RE NOT GONNA EVEN TAKE TIME TO LISTEN TO IT OR GET THE MESSAGE SO YOU'LL WRITE IT OFF. EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE ULTRAPIXEL CAMERA LIKE ITS TRASH, WHY WOULD THEY PUT SOMETHING THAT WHACK IN A FLAGSHIP, I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH THIS CAMERA. IT WON'T SUCCEED WHY? BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GONNA BUY IT WELL NEWS FLASH NEGRO JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T BUY JORDANS DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE NOT GONNA SELL OUT. TO EACH HIS OWN BUT KEEP IN MIND IT'S FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT AN HTC ONE WITH MORE PIZZAZZ THAT'S ALL, NO NEED TO THROW SALT ON THE HTC SLUG BRO. THESE SPECS THAT YOU PEOPLE DIE FOR ARE OK TO HAVE BUT HTC HAS SOME SMALL FEATURES OTHER PHONES LACK THAT PEOPLE REALLY LOOK PAST OR NEVER KNOW ABOUT. THE UI IS GORGEOUS THE LIVE GALLERY AND SPEAKERS THE BUILD QUALITY AND THE FACT THAT ROOTING MAKES SPECS JUST BS I CAN SHOW YOU AN HTC ONE SD600 CLOCKED AT 2.5 GHz . INSTEAD OF BASHING SAY WHAT YOU LIKE AND DISLIKE

the only things about this that makes me want it are the screen size, the front speakers (which probably wont get used much anyway), and sense 5.5 because i am actually a fan of the redesign. there is not a single thing else that makes me want it. if they drop this for $249+ say goodnight, they wont move any.

I love the One. Actually i had 2 of em but my son cracked the screen on one. My wife has the Note 2. I traded one for an lg optimus g pro and i love it also...smooth and a great display. Ive been using it now for about a month, but now when i use my One..it seems hella small. I want the Max because of the screen and boomsound. I would have loved a better camera and the fact that htc removed OIS is well, taking a few steps back. The 600 is no joke! Ive tried my best to slow it down with no avail. Adding expandable storage is a plus also. I do like the use of the stylus on the note but it isnt a deal breaker. Fast, nice build, boomsound and a killer display...waiting for it to drop!

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